President Obama’s campaign and the Democratically-aligned SuperPAC Priorities USA have begun airing separate ads featuring former employees who were laid off thanks to Bain Capital, the private equity firm once helmed by Mitt Romney. But rather than pushing back against the campaign, the Romney camp is instead going after the employees featured in the ad.

Senior Romney aide Stuart Stevens dismissed the latest ad as “performance art gibberish” in an interview with the Associated Press. The ad features former GST Steelworkers laid off after Bain Capital closed their plant.

Deflections of reporters’ questions about to Mitt Romney’s tenure at the head of Bain Capital have become something of a speciality for the campaign, but Stevens’ remarks explicitly go after workers who have lost their jobs thanks to Bain:

“Shouting louder and getting more angry is not very persuasive,” Stevens said in response to the line of attack. “The idea that people are walking around with less of a paycheck or higher gas prices because of something Bain Capital did 20 years ago is absurd.”

As the AP notes, the Romney campaign has thus far failed to settle into a single unified response to criticisms stemming from relationship with Bain. This despite the fact that it has been a proven liability for years, since Romney’s unsuccessful 1994 Senate run.

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